Lullaby
by KuriYumegashi
Summary: After Tintlett leaves him, Rune is thrown into a deepening depression. He takes to drinking to dull his pain, but when that doesn't help, he takes drastic measures.


I know I should have been working on Scarlet Gift, but this came to me when I was listening to the radio, so I had to write it and put it up. It is a one-shot, but I'm sure I could make a second chapter if anyone wants it. So make sure you read and review at the bottom, okay?

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"That's it Rune!" a voice shrieked, anger dripping off every hissed syllable. "I'm done! Tired of always for you! Tired of fighting with Lim and you just ignoring it!" Tintlett was throwing a few things into her bag, screaming at a flabbergasted Rune, who kept opening his mouth in protest, but being cut across.

"Tint—" he started time and time again, his eyes sad, confused, and worried.

"Just shut up, okay!" Her pale eyes were wild, brimming with a few tears that strained hopelessly to fall down her cheeks. Snapping her bag shut, she half-ran to the door, looking over her shoulder at him. "I can't stand it anymore, Rune! You won't choose, so I will!" Without another word, she stormed out the door, slamming it behind her, leaving him staring at the wall in the bitter silence that remained in her wake.

"Tintlett…"

_She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette  
She broke his heart he spent his whole life tryin' to forget  
We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time  
But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind_

The bar near the castle had never seen this Dragon Knight in its doors. Well. At least not buying anything before. But here he was, the other Dragon Knight that her typically dragged out nowhere in sight, his messy light hair falling down his back, and sprawling across the countertop. His head rested on the bar, huge dark bags beneath his eyes, as though he had not slept in weeks, his long fingers tracing the edge of the empty shot glass that lay at his fingertips.

"Hey," the barkeep tried for what seemed to be the fiftieth time, coming over with a fresh shot and putting it before, taking the rest of the three dozen empty glasses from him. "Something bothering ya there Rune?"

Every time in the week that Rune started coming the barkeep had asked, the same reaction was the same: a blank stare. And the blank stare was enough to stop the pressing questions, at least from the barkeep.

The door slammed opened, and as usual, Rune's head jerked up and in the direction of the door, but as usual, his head dropped back down to its saddened position, disappointed. It was the more regularly seen Knight, and the dark-haired one too: Thatz and Rath. They both marched over to their companion, and took seats on either side of him.

"Hey Rune!" Thatz said, a little more enthusiastic than normal as he settled himself onto the stool, gesturing for a drink for himself. "What cha drinking there, eh?" He took the glass and drank it, much to the other's aggravation, gagged, and put it the empty shot glass back where he had picked it up. "Vodka's gross, Rune," he said, grinning at him, one of his goofy smiles plastered across his face. "If you smell like this stuff, she isn't gonna co--"

If looks could kill, Thatz would have been killed in cold blood six times over. Rune's eyes were cold, bitter almost. He pushed himself away from the bar, knocking the stool over with him, and started staggering away towards the door.

Rath and Thatz watched him go, before exchanging meaningful looks with one another, wondering what they could possibly do for their friend.

Too bad it was the last time they would ever see him alive.

_Until the night  
__He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger  
And finally drank away her memory  
Life is short but this time it was bigger  
Than the strength he had to get up off his knees  
We found him with his face down in the pillow  
With a note that said I'll love her till I die  
And when we buried him beneath the willow  
The angels sang a whiskey lullaby_

The morning after Rath and Thatz had joined Rune in the bar, Rune did not appear for a meeting with the Dragon Lord. Nor for breakfast, nor for lunch. In fact, they did not see him at all that entire day. No one had thought too much about this. After all, Tintlett was Rune's beloved, to put it lightly.

Rath had pounded on the door for a quick moment, calling Rune's name, before opening the door and walking in. Looking around the room, something felt wrong, though he could not pinpoint it. The room itself was dark, the drapes drawn, the bed unmade with the blankets spilling across the floor, an overturned chair in the corner, a few broken bottles of what used to be whiskey, a pool of blood just behind the bed, the lamp in the cor— "RUNE!" he cried, his voice echoing up the corridor through the open door as he tore around the bed, panic shining through his eyes.

There was Rune, a dagger by his side, his light hair stained with the blood that spilt out of the deep gash in his arms, and the even deeper haphazard gash across his neck. In his left hand was a note loosely clutched, declaring his never-ending love for his beloved, his betrothed. He could have been mistaken as sleeping, had it not been for the fact that he was paler than normal.

Without thinking about it, Rath dropped to his knees over Rune's cold form, grasped for a pulse, but finding down, he sank back, leaning against the bed with his hand over his mouth, his eyes staring in shock at what he had just found. Those who had heard his cries were now there, each taking their own turn staring in horror at the bloody scene before them, the end of their water dragon knight.

_The rumors flew but nobody know how much she blamed herself  
For years and years she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath  
She finally drank her pain away a little at a time  
But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind_

She had heard about his death from one of the most unlikely sources ever imagined. A demon that had wandered into her forest by accident was cackling its head off at the predicament the dragons now found themselves in, without a dragon knight of water, and now no way to control Varawoo's power.

"Rune—" she said, surprised, and saying a silent prayer that what this vile demon had said was a lie. She gathered up a few things and fled to the castle, guilt pressing into her chest as she ran.

There, the Dragon Lord himself confirmed her worst fears, that Rune was dead, slain by his own hand less than a week before. 'Just a week after… oh Dusis…' She shuddered internally, her emotions welling up her throat in an exasperated cry. This is not at all what she had thought he would do. Not Rune. This was the last thing kind of thing that he would ever try to do.

Lord Lykouleon led her quietly to the gravestone marking where he lay. The grounds surrounding the castle were vast, but there was always one little corner near the willows that Rune always found himself, and it was here that his body rested beneath the sod.

After a few moments of silence, the Dragon Lord left her alone, heading back up to the castle to meet with some visiting diplomats. She broke apart when he was out of earshot, tears streaming down her face and she fell to her knees, crying out to his spirit. "Rune… why were you so stupid… so stupid…" she whispered to his gravestone, dotting it with her tears for the love she lost, the love she gave up. "This is my fault… if I hadn't… damn it Rune… why…?"

Rath's dark heavy clothes seemed to have become a fad over the past days, as everyone in the castle and beyond had seemed to dawn them. Even Thatz seemed to have changed over the days, becoming more subdued, less loud, and staying away from the bar, the last place they had seen him alive. But the seemingly most distraught, blaming herself for his death and whatnot, was overlooked, the others involved in their own mourning.

She had been given a room to use in the castle itself, but she spent very little time there. She was typically found, if ever she was looked for, at his gravestone, watching the seasons change around his stone, her fingertips grazing the rough stone, or in his room, staring at the red stain that grazed the carpet still even after multiple cleanings. Half a dozen bottles lay in the trash in her room, but no one noticed that they were missing from the kitchen.

_Until the night  
She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger  
And finally drank away his memory  
Life is short but this time it was bigger  
Than the strength she had to get up off her knees  
We found her with her face down in the pillow  
Clinging to his picture for dear life  
We laid her next to him beneath the willow  
While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby_

The rain poured from the sky, sopping into the ground, making everything muddy and mucky. While the rest of the dragons refused to come out into the storm on this one-month anniversary since his death, one crazy little elfin princess spent her time kneeling beneath the willow, her fingers tracing his name carved in the stone.

Her voice was sad as she spoke to something that no one watching from the windows could see. "Hic—Rune… What am I supposed to do?…" she whispered to the stone, fresh tears pouring down her cheeks, dripping on the already soaked stone, so none could tell the difference. "Tell me what… I'm sorry I did this to you… "

A few hours had passed when the rain started to clear up, and Delte decided to chance the rain to check on her. As she walked closer, she could tell that Tintlett was slouched over the gravestone, one arm draped over the stone, her head resting on that arm, and the other laying across the black fabric lacing her lap. 'She must have fallen asleep,' she thought with a soft smile, one of the first since the tragic events of the month before.

"Hey, Tintlett?" she asked, as she got closer, noticing the empty bottle that lay on the ground next to her now. She shrugged it off, though secretly wishing that the elfin princess would leave the drink alone now, and came closer, calling her name again. "Tintlett? Come on now. Let's go inside. Tintlett?" Delte put her hand on her shoulder, shaking her slightly, but stopped when she saw the bloody dagger laying under her arm.

"TINTLETT!"

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Disclaimer: I don't own nothing but my ideas. In fact, I dont even know if I own myself, so who knows if I own my ideas. _Whiskey Lullaby _is sung by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss. _Dragon Knights_ is owned by Mineko Ohkami.

And get this... Rune's one of my favorite characters... lol!


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